Christmas Day '09

Christmas morning everyone woke up bright-eyed at .....







almost 8 am. Wahoo!!! We even had to wake Carli up! Ha! I could hardly believe they slept in so long. We got Grandpa and Grandma up, too, and all went into the game room and read the Christmas story from Luke 2. I loved waking up and centering on the Savior. Then the madness began. :)

Here are the kids waiting at the top of the stairs.I'm going to jump right to the end, almost, with the pictures. Here are Brandon and Kate discovering the last gift hidden behind the tree. They knew what it was and could not wait to get to it.Oh the joy!A Wii!!!!! They love it. We played bowling as a family last night and it was really fun. I like that we can all play together.Megan had asked for an art easel, canvas, paints, and brushes. She got right to work on a masterpiece for Grandpa and Grandma to take home.Then she moved on to the next canvas. She's quite a budding little artist!Brandon and Kate both got skateboards. Since it had snowed and was not quite skateboarding weather, they made good use of our long hallway. :)Kate is trying hers out. Gotta work on the helmet. We did get it to fit better later in the day and she should be good to go.My mom gave the girls the cutest Fancy Nancy books and dolls to go with them. Kate and her explorer doll.Here is part of the aftermath...can you find the baby in the midst of it all?! Brooke just kept crawling around seeing everything. Another shot of the craziness.

Carli had been asking for roller skates for months and was so excited to get them! She put them right on and tried them out. It's going to take some practice, but Grandma was a great helper!

Carli in her new fancy dress up shoes. She loves to dress herself and often is seen in Wal-Mart and other stores wearing fancy shoes such as this. She causes quite a few turning heads with her outfits. LOL! (btw, I believe this is the only shot with me in it...see those striped socks in the bottom corner?)

Carli also wanted a new kitchen for her room. She was pretty excited that Santa brought it to her!An ice cream set to play with.

Playing with the ice cream. Good thing it's not real! That's quite a cone she's got going there. :)

Carli and her Fancy Nancy doll. She has the butterfly one. Sooo cute!Brooke playing with her new toy.

She loves her new cup, too!

Playing with Grandpa

This one is actually from Christmas Eve, but I had to include it because this is the typical pose--Grandpa holding Brooke in the crook of his arm and she's sucking her thumb.

I made Brooke a fleece blanket like I have all the other kids in the past. Here she is snuggling with Grandma and the blanket.

What? A banana? Where's the chocolate?

She found some...Brandon and his skateboard.

Putting together the Lego set from Grandpa and Grandma. He is a whiz at these sets. Once he puts them together he ends up taking them all apart and creating little vehicles with the different pieces. He's quite a little Lego engineer. What a wonderful Christmas season this has been! We had such a great day together as a family and with my parents here. They gave me a new temple dress and I can't wait to go use it! We had our usual abelskiver breakfast which is a favorite for everyone and then we just hung out and played with everything. Soon enough, though we began prep for Christmas dinner. My mom ended up doing pretty much everything, though, as she and Dad watched the kids while Ben and I went out for a little date. When we got home from seeing The Blind Side dinner was practically ready. It was sooooo yummy! Thanks Mom and Dad for helping out so much while you were here! Your visit went too fast, but we were so blessed by having you come.

One of the highlights of the day was getting to talk to my brother, Brett, who is serving a mission for our church in Romania. He is doing so well and it was neat to hear his voice. The kids loved talking to him and telling him all about Christmas. Then we put the phone on speaker and all sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas and then we hung up. Hopefully we'll get to talk to him again next Christmas! Then he will be home in June of 2011.

I hope all of you had a meaningful and special Christmas season and I am excited to see what 2010 has to bring to us all!

Be Still, My Soul

What an emotional, wonderful, wild and crazy few days we've had here at my parents' house in southern Utah. My sister was sealed in the St. George temple yesterday and we had all the fun things that go along with that as well. I will be sharing more about that when we get home from our trip with pictures and everything. My entire immediate family was able to be here and how special that was to spend time with them.

Today we went to my cousin's mission farewell. She spoke profoundly about patience. She has endured much in her road to this mission and still may not actually be able to go. I just pray that she is lead in the right direction, whichever that may be right now. The opening hymn was Be Still, My Soul. I was very touched by the words in this hymn at the moment. It is exactly what I need in my life right now. There is so much chaos and busy-ness with school, activities, church callings, this trip, housekeeping (which I'm so behind on), etc. My soul is not at rest. I need some order and peace. Here are the words to this sweet hymn.

Be Still, My Soul

Be still, my soul:
The Lord is on thy side;
With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In ev'ry change he faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul:
Thy best, thy heav'nly Friend
Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul:
Thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as he has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul:
The waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.

Be still, my soul:
The hour is hast'ning on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul:
When change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

I'm going to end with this for tonight and hope for some peace and patience in my soul.